Change of Heart
by Ognonamis
Summary: After rescuing a woman from her crashed car and bringing her back to the Salvatore house, Damon discovers how much he actually cares for humanity. Summary isn't the best. Please read and review.  would love to know what you think.  Warning: Damon OOC.


Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or anything to do with them. I wish I did though.

Author Note: So this is my first Vampire Diaries fanfiction. It's not my first idea for the show but definitely my first fanfiction for it. Warning! Damon may seem out of character in this. Hope he isn't too out of character. This is based sometime after the most recent episode was on. Rose isn't in it (sorry. I actually like Damon and Rose together.) This is actually going to be a story with Damon and an original character that I thought up. Hope it's ok. That being said…Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 1

Claire awoke feeling sore and achy. The last thing she remembered was her car flipping over. As she looked around the room, she could hear voices. There were two guys talking about something. Claire silently listened.

"You brought her back here? You should've taken her to the hospital. She might be injured. What are you going to do with her now?" He seemed concerned.

"Spare me the lecture." The other man said. And I don't know what I'm going to do with her. If you asked me a year ago, I'd probably just snap her neck." Claire could hear both men talk more but it all seemed blurred together as fear rose in her gut. He wanted to snap her neck? He didn't even know her.

Claire couldn't believe it. She was in a house with two complete strangers and one of them wanted to snap her neck. She slowly sat up. Then suddenly, the door opened up making her jump. A man walked in. He didn't look to be much older than her and he was mysterious looking. Very confidently, he walked over to the bed with his piercing blue eyes glaring at her.

"Good. I'm glad you're awake. I was a little worried you wouldn't wake up." He sat down on the bed. Claire scrambled out of bed and to her feet.

He let out a sigh of frustration. "What are you doing? I'm not going to hurt you." Despite what she had heard him say before he came in, he seemed to have a pleading expression on his face.

Claire could feel her heart pounding still. Was he lying to her or telling the truth? She just didn't know. "I heard you say you were going to snap my neck."

He sighed and stood up. Claire started to back away from the bed. "Don't come any closer. I'll scream."

He seemed to ignore her so she decided to make a run for it. In an instant, he was there and his arms were around her, tight, preventing her from reaching the door and making her escape.

"Let me go!" Claire screamed as she tried desperately to pry his arms off her. His arms remained tight like a vise around her body. Claire screamed and his hand clamped down over her mouth, silencing her.

"I can see this is going to be complicated. If you stay still and stop squirming for a second, I can explain." Claire thought about it for a second and then stopped squirming. She really did want to hear his explanation. He took a deep breath and started. "Now, if I take my hand off your mouth, are you going to stay quiet and let me explain?" Claire nodded slowly and he took his hand off her mouth.

There was a silence that hung in the air between them for a minute before he started explaining. "My name is Damon Salvatore. Right now, you're in Mystic Falls in what used to be the old Salvatore Boarding House. Now it's just a home for my brother and I."

"Was your brother the one you were talking to earlier?" Claire asked in almost a whisper.

"Yes and about that, I didn't say I _was_ going to snap your neck. I just said that a year ago, I probably would have." Damon paused and let go of her. "I've put that behind me, well, for the most part. I'm not going to hurt you."

Claire turned around to face Damon. She felt light headed and a bit dizzy nut she didn't move. "How did I get here?"

"I found you trapped in your overturned car and pulled you out. Your car didn't make it though. There was a gas leak and it caught on fire. I did manage to grab your bag out of the car though." Claire didn't remember but from the look on his face, he seemed to be telling the truth.

Damon could see Claire start to sway so he reached out and grabbed her arms to steady her. "You should probably sit down. I think you might have a concussion."

Damon walked her over to the bed and helped her sit down. Claire grabbed her throbbing head and looked at Damon. "How do I know you won't hurt me?"

"Even though I've already told you that I'm not going to hurt you, you really don't know." He walked over to a desk in the corner of the room and grabbed a letter opener off the top of it.

As Damon walked back towards the bed, Claire could feel her heart start to race again. "Here." Damon handed the letter opener to her. Claire didn't really know what to think. "If you feel unsafe at all, use it on me."

It was almost as if instinct took over. She lunged the letter opener forward into Damon's stomach.

"Ow!" Damon pulled it out and set it on the bed. "Don't use it on me now." He paused for a minute. "Look, I have to leave for a while. "I'll get you something to eat while I'm out." He got up and left without another word leaving Claire stunned.

* * *

When Damon walked into the Grill, he saw almost everyone from Mystic Falls that he recognized. Jenna and Alaric were having lunch at one of the booths. Caroline and Bonnie were sitting at a table talking and Matt and Tyler were playing pool.

Damon walked right past everyone and went straight to the bar. He ordered a scotch from the bartender and a bowl of chicken noodle soup to go. He paid the bartender and sipped his scotch while he waited for the soup.

"I didn't expect to see you here." Stefan said as he and Elena walked up to the bar. "What about your house guest?"

Damon took a sip of his scotch. "My house guest heard us talking earlier and freaked. Luckily, I was charming enough to calm her down."

"Was that regular charming or vampire charming?" Elena asked with an accusing tone to her voice.

"It was regular charming for your information." Damon answered quickly. He didn't like the accusation in her tone. He took another sip of his scotch. "I also gave her a way to defend herself." Stefan and Elena both gave him questioning looks. "I handed her a letter opener and told her that if she felt unsafe, she could use it on me."

A waitress brought a covered plastic bowl of soup out and set it on the bar. Damon handed her a bill big enough to cover it. He grabbed the plastic bowl and turned to Stefan and Elena. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a guest to feed and hopefully, she won't stab me again."

"Again?" Elena repeated. Was she hearing him right? From the look on Stefan's face, he was thinking the same thing.

Damon opened his jacket to reveal a slice in his shirt and a blood stain. "Yeah. You two have fun. I'll see you later."

* * *

Claire heard when Damon came back. He wasn't gone very long. Hopefully he brought food back with him. He mentioned he would and she was hungry. She thought about going to find him to see if he brought food but then decided not to.

A knock at the door jumped her. "I got you some chicken noodle soup while I was out. I'm not sure if you like it or not. Can I come in?" Claire didn't answer. She didn't know if she wanted him to come in or not. "Okay, I'll just leave it outside the door. Come out whenever you're ready."

Claire sat there in silence with the letter opener in her hand, holding it up in front of her. It had Damon's blood on it. She stabbed him but it didn't seem like it. He didn't seem hurt at all. She stood up with the letter opener in her hand and slowly made her way to the door. She stopped at the door and listened. She didn't hear anything so she opened the door just a crack. The only thing outside the door was a bowl of soup so she opened the door completely.

Claire sighed in relief, grabbed the bowl of soup and closed the door. She walked back over to the bed and took the cover off the bowl. She didn't have a spoon but she didn't care. She was hungry so she started drinking it.

When Claire was finished with her soup, she set the bowl down on the end table beside the bed and picked up her bag. When she opened it, the first thing she saw was her keys. She didn't see her car key though. Damon must've broken it off by accident when he grabbed her keys out of the ignition.

Then, like a flash, everything that happened after the car flipped over started rushing back to her.

_Claire knew she was in trouble when she opened her eyes. Everything through the now broken window was upside down._

_ Her heart was about to jump out of her chest but she tried to stay calm. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and reached for the door handle. She yanked on it, trying desperately to open in but it was no use. It wouldn't budge._

_ Claire could feel tears start to well up. She needed help and she was in the middle of nowhere in Virginia. She took another deep breath and reached for her seat belt. That wouldn't budge either._

_ She could feel panic start to set in. Would anyone even pass by on that road at two in the morning? If anyone did, would they even help her?_

_ In one last bout of panic, she let it all out, screaming and crying as loud as she could in the hopes that someone might here her._

_ Then he was there. She hadn't heard another car pull up but there he was. "You okay?" She didn't understand why he would ask such a stupid question and she wanted to scream at him for it. Of course she wasn't okay. Did it really look like she was okay._

_ "No I'm not okay." Claire yanked on her seatbelt again. "I'm stuck." Another bout of tears and hysterics bubbled up again. "The door is jammed and I can't get my seatbelt off."_

_ "Okay, stay calm. I'm going to get you out." He reached in through the broken side window and grabbed the seatbelt. Without warning, it snapped and Claire fell from her seat, cracking her head on the car roof._

_ "Sorry. I should've warned you first." He said. "You okay?" Claire nodded but she wasn't okay. Now she had a splitting headache. The next thing she knew, the door was gone and he was dragging her out and away from the car._

Claire sat there in silence, not knowing what to think. She had a million questions running through her head. Like how the hell did he get the car door off? And how did her stabbing him not affect him? And what the hell was in that glass on the desk in the corner?

Claire stood up and slowly made her way across the room to the desk. She picked up the glass and looked at it with questioning eyes. The liquid was thick and dark. She stuck her finger in it and tasted it. A rich metallic taste filled her mouth making her gag. It was blood.

She looked at the door in horror when it all seemed to hit her. He was able to snap the seatbelt and pull her car door off. And when she stabbed him, all he did was say "ow!" And then there was the cup of blood.

It was suddenly obvious. Damon wasn't what he seemed. He wasn't even human. He was a vampire.

The thought scared her at first but the longer she thought about it, the more confused she was. If he was a vampire, why was he helping her? How was he able to go out in the middle of the day? And why hadn't he tried to bite her and drink her blood?

Vampire didn't seem like the right word to describe him but as she looked at the glass, she knew she was right. She picked up the glass and started heading for the door.

Footsteps down the stairs broke Damon's staring contest he was having with the wall. He wanted to turn around and look but decided not to. Maybe it was best that _she_ approach _him_ this time.

Claire stopped at the end of the couch, the letter opener clutched in one hand and something else that Damon couldn't see in the other hand down at her side. "Do you mind if I sit down?"

Damon slid over on the couch to make room. "No, go ahead." Claire sat down but she didn't say anything at first.

Claire reached out slowly and set the cup, half full of blood, on the coffee table in front of Damon. "You left this in the room."

Damon stared at the glass and for a second, Claire could see panic flash across his face. How was he supposed to explain _that_? How was she supposed to feel safe if she as finding half drank glasses of blood lying around? Before he could really think about what to say, the words just tumbled out of his mouth. "I can explain."

Claire almost wanted to giggle. Now who's afraid? She thought. Truthfully, she didn't need an explanation. She already knew what he was.

"You don't have to explain." With that, Damon's head turned in her direction. She held the letter opener out to him. "And you can have this back too. I don't think I'm going to need it."

Damon just gazed at her, eyes smoldering under the dim lights as if he was trying to read her. It was a little intimidating at first but she didn't look away. Damon was the one to finally look away. His eyes fell on the letter opener that was held out in front of him. "You seem so confident."

Claire set the letter opener down on the coffee table next to the cup. "I could've died in my car but I didn't because _you_ pulled me out. If you wanted to hurt me or kill me, you would've done it by now."

"I still can." Damon's face was calm and confident again but his eyes told a completely different story.

"But you won't." Claire said and she knew from the look in those blue eyes that what she said was true. "You told me that you wouldn't hurt me and now I don't have a way to defend myself so I'm trusting you."


End file.
